SONNET, in poetics:' (1) A short poem, song or ballad. (2) Specifically, a short poem of prescribed form restricted to 14 verses ar ranged according to a fixed disposition. The word came from the Italian sonetto, probably derived from the Old French and Provencal sonet, a diminutive of son, which was in turn obtained from the Latin sonus, a sound or musical air. That the sonnet originated in Italy seems now definitely settled, hut the manner of its origin remains an object of discussion. D'Ancona ((Poesia Popolare,' 1878) as the re sult of his investigations, believes that it was developed by a combination of two popular stanzas, the strambotto, of eight verses, with a riming-scheme a b a b, etc., and the rispetto, of six verses, with a scheme c d c d, etc. Cesareo, a later student ((La Poesia Siciliana,' 1894), modifies this view by making the combination one of strambotti, the one of eight verses, the other of six. The beginnings of the sonnet appear to date from the early 13th century. It quickly attained popularity, and various writers attempted elaborations and other changes. Sep tisyllabic verses were inserted to vary the hendecasyllabic measure, the length of the son net being sometimes thus doubled; or verses might be appended, constituting a coda or nauda. The simpler arrangement, however, prevailed. At the same time, as to the riming scheme, in the octave, or portion of eight verses, the arrangement abbaabba replaced that of a b a b, etc., while in the sestet, or portion of six verses, it might be c d e c d e, as well as c d c d, etc. The sonnet was firmly established on this new basis by Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch), and this form has since been gen erally known as the Petrarchan. Boscan intro duced the sonnet into Spain; Camilens, into Portugal. In France, Marot was the first great maker of sonnets, though it is maintained that this form of poetics was first introduced by Mellin de Saint-Gelais. The poets of the Plelade were its chief exponents. In Germany they first appeared in the 16th century, but re ceived their greatest impetus during the Ro mantic period, A. W. Schlegel, Goethe, Heyse, Eichendorf and Redwitz being among the sonnet-makers. Wyatt (q.v.) and Surrey (q.v.) introduced the sonnet into English literature in the middle of the 16th century. In England a modification was employed by Shakespeare, Drayton and others. This modification has been called the simple stanza in contradistinction to the Petrarchan, or compound stanza. The type
is The Sheakespearean is distinguished in another way from the Petrarchan; for while the latter formally sepa rated the octave and sestet, the former could not properly be said to have such a division the arrangement being really three quatrains succeeded by a couplet — and the sense there fore might be continuous. In English the dee asyllabic measure is the one generally used, although the octosyllabic is found. The Shakes pearean type has not been to any extent used. the Petrarchan being regarded as the orthodox or standard. Deviations, as in the case of S. T. Coleridge, (q.v.) are called irregular sonnets or quatorzains; or, in Charles Lamb's whimsical coinage, gfourteeners.° Critics point out what is called the Miltonic structure in the Petrarchan sonnet, Milton blending octave and sestet so that there is no pause in rhythm or thought. This modification has by Sharp ((Sonnets of this Century,' 1886) and others been dis tinguished as a' separate type. The sonnet should be the vehicle of expression of one thought or idea, and the compactness and unity of the verse-form of course favor this. Hence the sonnet has been much used for what Watts.. Dunton has styled didactics.° The difficulties offered by the sonnet are consider able. The sense of mere ingenuity, except in the case of such facetim as Milton's 'On the Detraction Which Followed Upon My Writing Certain Treatises' (XI), is necessarily to be avoided. Even a partial list of sonnet-writers in English would require much space. A col lection of British examples, from the Earl of Surrey to Alexander Smith, was made by J. Dennis (1873). American literature has in the sonnets of Longfellow (q.v.), notably the series on the 'Divine Comedy,' many of the finest specimens in the language.
the above-mentioned works De Veyriere,